Dog Naps
by Selene Illusinia
Summary: Skye blinked. Hard. Then blinked again. Honestly? She wasn't sure what to make of what she was seeing, though her first thought was definitely along the lines of 'I need a picture of this'. After all, it wasn't every day she got to walk in on Grant Ward sleeping peacefully on the floor, surrounded by six equally sleepy and peaceful dogs.


To say she was relieved when the small jump jet landed in the Playground hanger was like saying Simmons was happy when she got a new piece of lab equipment. Namely, it was an understatement. She'd been gone a good week on a specialized information gathering mission that required her to hack, on site, into five different servers using a multitude of different encryption methods. It wasn't hard but it was long hours and she'd had to read through a lot of information to find what they wanted. It wasn't hard but it was time consuming and tiring as a result. Plus sleeping in the jump jet wasn't fun. So she was extremely happy to be back at the Playground where she could sleep in her own bed.

She was particularly happy when she spotted the Bus sitting in the middle of the hanger, it's huge wings taking up the majority of the hanger space. That meant the rest of the team was back too. Good, she'd missed them all.

May, Fitz, Simmons, and Ward had been deployed to take out an arms dealer who'd been selling alien tech on the black market while she and Trip had been sent the other way to track the tech already sold. A two man team was quicker at getting in-and-out than a four person one and less likely to be caught. At least, that was the logic they'd used to justify the split operation. Ward had objected of course- he didn't want to leave her in Trip's hands. And Coulson had turned around and reminded Ward that he didn't trust the man farther than he could throw him and there was no way Ward and Skye were going on a mission alone together. At least not for the time being.

So as a result, she and Trip had gone one way, the rest of the team had gone the other. Together but apart, they'd managed to recover about ten different pieces of alien tech, took out a small-time black market arms dealer, and successfully obtained several lists of clients that would hopefully lead to some useful trails for picking off more Hydra goons. All in all, it wasn't a bad mission, and last check-in had listed no major injuries. A bonus to boot.

Stepping off the jump jet's ramp, Skye didn't bother to wait for Trip as she headed for the Bus. From the looks of things, they hadn't landed long ago. Trip had even picked up the flying fortress on their radar coming in so it wasn't likely everyone had even deplaned yet. That meant Ward hadn't had a chance to escape to whatever hidden corner he was going to after this mission.

It was some kind of bad side effect from the brain washing that appeared while he was still in the prison psych ward. He hadn't been listed as certifiable going in, but once the prison (and everyone else) realized how severely abused and brainwashed he was following some kind mental break down he had in isolation, they'd moved him and started a therapy regiment meant to help him cope. It worked, sort of. One of the side effects from either the therapy or mental breakdown was his tendency to disappear following missions. He'd always show back up if another mission came up, but for a few days after he'd be nearly impossible to find. It was better than when he'd first came back (he disappeared for nearly a week and a half after his first mission back with the team), but she still tried to catch him before he decided to play Houdini and vanish.

"Skye!" Simmon's cheery voice caught her attention as she stepped onto the Bus. She turned towards the British scientist, watching as she attempted to hoist a piece of technology almost as big as she was onto a dolly. "I heard things went well on your end!"

"About as smooth as they ever do," confirmed Skye, eying the towering piece of tech wearily. "Uh, Jemma, Trip's right behind me. Maybe you should wait for him to move that..."

"Don't be silly," dismissed Simmons easily as she again attempted to hoist the tech onto the rolling board. "I'll be fine."

"Right," muttered Skye, recognizing Simmon's stubborn streak as alive and well. Since the incident in the pod when Fitz had almost died, Simmon's had become a lot more stubborn about doing things herself. Usually it took Trip to save her from that. "Have you seen Ward?"

"He's upstairs," informed Fitz, the engineer rolling out of the lab with ease.

It had taken time for her to get used to the wheel chair, but eventually it was easier to witness the engineer wheeling around the plane. Everyone had been worried about brain damage when the pod incident had gone down and no one had considered the explosion that freed Fitz and Simmons a threat. It wouldn't have been either, if the blow back hadn't forced Fitz against a sharp piece of debris that was in the pod. It just barely avoided severing his spinal column, by some miracle, but there was damage done. He could walk somewhat, if there were things to hold on to, but he was shaky and his mobility was definitely restricted. The doctors thought part of it could be brain damage from lack of oxygen as well, a matter which could have compounded the issue further. He still had feeling in his legs, but there were times where it seemed like the signal between his brain and legs didn't come through correctly. As a result it was sometimes easier for him to use a chair than risk trying to walk. Especially when the Bus was in the air.

It was still weird- the fact that they weren't living on the large flying machine anymore. Yeah, she liked having stable hot water and no turbulence, but everyone felt a little more distant now. Even if they all still met for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every morning. And for Fitz, it was significantly better. Though they'd installed a lift between the cargo bay floor and the top of the stairs for him, he still struggled to maneuver through the upper parts of the plane. Usually, he just risked walking if the plane wasn't shaking a lot.

Shaking her head, Skye nodded towards the engineer. "So he hasn't made his escape yet, huh?"

"I doubt he will be this time," stated Fitz with a grin.

Well, that didn't sound good. There was something knowing about the look too, and it sort of worried Skye. What wasn't she being told? There were no serious injuries, right? "Why?"

"Go take a look for yourself," insisted Fitz, shaking his head. "You'll see."

Eying the engineer wearily, Skye headed for the stairs. "Where is he upstairs?"

"Lounge," called back Fitz, even as he rapidly shifted to catch Simmon's in his lap as she lost her balance and toppled over. Thankfully, the massive piece of tech didn't fall on either of them.

Rolling her eyes, Skye began to take the stairs two at a time. "Wait for Trip, you two! We don't need you both in medical!" Mainly because Simmons was still acting as their medic, and if she was in there, then Trip would have to play doctor. Not that he really minded, but there was always this look that crossed his face when he had to do it because Simmons and Fitz had done something ridiculous.

Stepping into the lounge, Skye prepared to find Ward laying on the couch in a pool of his own blood or sweat or something bodily that he shouldn't be excreting. What she found was something completely different.

Skye blinked. Hard. Then blinked again. Honestly? She wasn't sure what to make of what she was seeing, though her first thought was definitely along the lines of 'I need a picture of this'. It was only her respect for Ward that kept her from whipping out her camera and snapping a picture. Well, kept her from doing it immediately- she gave in about thirty seconds later.

She'd probably need the photo anyway if she wanted to convinced AC to keep their surprise guests. And they were keeping them- all six. This particular image was too precious to give up.

After all, it wasn't every day she got to walk in on Grant Ward sleeping peacefully on the floor, surrounded by six equally sleepy and peaceful dogs.

That's right. Agent Grant Ward was currently asleep on the floor of the lounge with six dogs, two adults and four puppies, all sleeping around him. They were curled tight against the agent, who looked so relaxed it was almost shocking. She wasn't even aware he could relax this much. It made him look almost ten years younger than his actual 32 years.

Yeah, they were definitely keeping their six new friends. There had to be a practical reason for having six dogs around. Hell, the fact that Ward could use them as therapy dogs alone worked in their favor and they could probably make the puppies mascots. Maybe train the adults? Oh! Guard dogs! That could be her rational. Yes, that would work. Guard dogs and therapy dogs. They'd be good for Ward at any rate.

The sensation of someone watching her drew Skye's eyes up from Ward. May stood across the lounge, shaking her head at the sight in front of her. Silently stepping around the sleeping agent, she paused beside Skye and took another look at Ward.

"Where did you get the dogs?" whispered Skye, glancing at May.

May shook her head, leaning against the wall as they watched the specialist sleep. "No clue. Ward found them in the dealer's house and wouldn't let us leave them."

"So you agreed to bring them alone?" asked Skye in surprise, eying the Calvary like she suspected the woman was an imposter. The bad-ass SHIELD agent she knew wasn't likely to allow a group of dogs on her plane.

"More like Ward begged and I gave in because he was being annoying," muttered May with a slight scowl. There was a touch of a smile in one corner of her mouth though.

Ward's betrayal was painful for everyone, but once Fitz somehow convinced her to hack the prison psych records, a picture began to emerge. When they all sat down as a group to discuss the matter at Fitz's prompting, Skye had brought her back-up copies of every file about Ward she'd theoretically deleted at Coulson's behest. The combination of both painted a picture of abuse that was horrifying. And that was disregarding the information he'd given them later, about Garrett and the woods. After that, everyone agreed that he needed help. Everyone wanted to see him get help.

Yes, he'd done bad things and he'd been forced to spend time in prison for it. But the records were enough to get him moved to the psych ward for therapy. On top of that, there was enough information to get him labeled incompetent. It wasn't a waving of all he'd done wrong, but there was enough evidence he was coerced into his actions that the prison sentence was significantly lessened. When Coulson had "requested" that Ward be moved into his custody, it was with the promise and understanding that he would be heavily monitored. Which he was. The tracking device he was forced to wear provided the mandatory coverage. And with Ward back in the team's custody, they'd set about trying to help him adjust to actually being human-like.

Everyday for the past year and a half, Skye had watched him struggle to not only discuss but accept his emotions and his humanity. It was a road he was still fighting to move down. The first time he'd broken down had been one of the hardest things Skye had faced. It was over the stupidest thing too- what he was going to eat for lunch.

Ward had been grounded to the base and told he couldn't go in the field yet. No one was telling him to do anything. Really, he was being left to his own devices and the only rules were no outside contact and no leaving the base. He could spend his days however he wanted with the exception of the shooting gallery. That was off-limits to him for obvious reasons without Triplett, Coulson, or May monitoring him. It was unorthodox, but Coulson wanted to give it a try.

So for one month, Ward hadn't been given a routine to normalize his life. No one would tell him what to do or give him orders. If he wanted to shoot, he had to ask someone to monitor him. They weren't allowed to order him to stop. No one was allowed to give him any orders. And after a month of no one telling him what to do, no one making decisions for him, none of it, he'd cracked. There was no other way to explain why Skye had found him curled in a corner of the kitchen, shaking and begging for someone, anyone, to tell him what to do. They weren't giving him anything to lean on, anyone to fight against, anyone to be angry with. They were placing him in an environment where he had to be an adult and stand on his own, completely and utterly, with no guidance towards a larger goal. And seeing him curled on the kitchen floor, cracking after trying to decide what to eat of all things, really drove home how little freedom he'd had in his life. Garrett had given him goals, targets, driven long-term and larger goals Ward could adhere to so firmly into his head, that without that guidance the rest of his decision-making abilities were compromised. Skye hadn't thought it would be that bad, but it was.

Staring at Ward now, where he lay curled among the puppies on the floor of the Bus, Skye was pretty sure May had let Ward keep the dogs because he'd asked more than anything else. He still didn't ask for things much. It was had for him to try to ask for what made him happy because he was still figuring out what those things were. And Coulson had made it clear they needed to try to agree to his requests so long as it wasn't going to cause someone else physical or mental harm. Adopting a small pack of dogs wasn't one of those things.

"Think AC will let him keep them?" asked Skye quietly, smiling a bit as Ward shifted in his sleep. One of his hands came up to rest on the chocolate colored dog he was curled against, idly stroking the animal's fur.

May made a slight sound that was her version of a resigned sigh. "Coulson is a sucker for anything that needs a home. He nearly adopted an entire shelter of animals once."

The image of Coulson surrounded by animals and giving May a pleading look as he asked to take them all home nearly caused Skye to burst out laughing. She snapped a second picture of the sleeping Ward and dogs. They were definitely keeping the animals. She'd find a way to convince Coulson. After all, guard dogs were always good on a secret base, right? And that's presumably what they were going to be trained for by the dealer, so...

"I'm gonna talk to AC," stated Skye, glancing once more at the sleeping Ward before turning towards the hold.

May just nodded and headed into the cargo hold ahead. Skye was careful to close the door between the stairs and lounge as she left, just to make sure Ward could stay asleep. He didn't always sleep soundly and she frequently woke to find him staring at the ceiling or wall. His nightmares could be pretty bad sometimes to boot and if he was actually getting some peaceful sleep, it was worth preserving.

In the cargo hold, Trip and Simmons were attempting to navigate a piece of alien technology onto a dolly. It was only waist high, but the way they struggled under the weight suggested it was significantly heavier than it looked. Immediately, May broke away to help them headed passed towards the loading ramp. She was only half surprised to find Fitz sitting in his chair at the bottom, scribbling down notes on a clip board and poking at one of their finds with what looked like a radar gun.

"Skye!" he called, setting down his equipment and waving her over. "Are you going to see Coulson about our guests?"

"That was the plan," confirmed Skye, smirking a bit and showing Fitz the photo she'd snagged. "I'm hoping this alone will convince him."

"What, Ward sleeping peacefully for once?" questioned Fitz curiously, examining the picture carefully. "Or is it the pups?"

"The dogs will probably do it," admitted Skye. "I'll go the whole 'it's good for Ward' route if the dogs alone don't convince him."

"Good luck," stated Fitz, shaking his head a bit. "I wouldn't mind the company though. It gets lonely when I'm here alone."

"I'm pretty sure everyone can use some dog therapy sometimes," agreed Skye, tucking her phone away again. "Hopefully, AC will agree. I'm not sure I've ever seen Ward so relaxed."

"Doesn't even look like him," admitted Fitz. "His brow isn't furrowed." It was an old joke, Ward's almost constantly furrowed brow. Seeing him asleep without it was slightly unnerving just because it was so persistent, but it was a relief too. Ward and the word 'relaxed' were pretty much antonyms.

"Me neither," agreed Skye, shaking her head sadly and waving a Fitz. "Alright, wish me luck."

"You're Coulson's favorite, you don't need luck," admonished Fitz with a grin and return wave, picking back up his radar gun thing and returned to work. He seemed happy at least. There were days his mood was dark and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, the weight of his physical restrictions showed through. Ward would usually offer himself up as a target for Fitz's anger, his guilt over what happened overwhelming on those days. Days like this though, with a new project in front of him, usually brought back the joy. The sensation of being useful. Because Fitz was still helpful, he was still part of the team, and he was still family. They needed him, even if he felt some days like they didn't.

Dislodging the thoughts from her head, Skye turned towards the main building and headed in the direction of Coulson's office. She had six dogs to partition for on behalf of a man who deserved the support. After all, dogs were a man's best friend.

"AC?" called Skye, knocking on the office door lightly. She knew he was in, he was always in his office if he wasn't with the team. "You got a minute?"

"Come in," called back Coulson, his voice tight. No one said restarting SHIELD would be easy.

Pushing open the door, Skye entered Coulson's office and dropped immediately into the chair before his desk. She had her phone out in seconds, pulling up the photo she'd taken earlier. "Did you hear we've got guests?"

"May mentioned them in her report," confirmed Coulson, glancing up at Skye. "You know it's not practical to keep them, right Skye?"

"Fitz wants to," stated Skye simply, glancing up at Coulson but keeping her phone turned towards herself. "He says he gets lonely."

"That's not a reason to keep six dogs recovered from an arms dealer's home," repeated Coulson, shaking his head.

"We've got the space," argued back Skye. "And we can train them as guard dogs."

"Skye-" started Coulson, only to pause when Skye flipped her phone around and slid it in front of Coulson with the photo of Ward curled in the middle of the pile of sleeping animals.

"And there's this," added Skye, tapping the screen to highlight the photo.

Automatically, Coulson glanced down. The heavy sigh that escaped him told Skye she'd won. It was his resigned 'I can't say no to this' sigh. "That is called playing dirty, Skye."

"I know," she assured, " and I wouldn't have done it if this weren't for Ward's good. He needs this, AC. I've never seen him relax like that and I sleep-"

"Thank you Skye," cut in Coulson, raising his hand to stop her. "I don't need to know any more."

Smirking a little, Skye bounced out of her chair and came around the desk to hug Coulson. "Thank you, AC. Ward will thank you, too. I'll make sure of it."

"No," dismissed Coulson, patting her arm where it was wrapped around him. "He needs to thank you. You're the one who did this for him."

"Yeah, well, it'll help him, so it's worth it," stated Skye like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Smirking a bit, she released her boss and headed to the door. "I'm gonna go wait for sleeping beauty to wake up so we can go get stuff for the dogs."

"Right," confirmed Coulson, shaking his head and turning back to his work. "Oh, and Skye?" She paused halfway out the door, popping her head back in to look at Coulson. "They're sleeping in your room."

"We'll see, AC," laughed Skye. "From what May says, I'm betting you kidnap at least one before the end of the week!"

"No, I won't," stated Coulson with a shake of his head. "She'd kill me if I got dog hair in the bed."

"I'm gonna tell her you said that!" threatened Skye, laughing as she exited the room, pulling the door shut. Phil's shout of "Don't!" was promptly cut off with the click of the handle. Still snickering, Skye headed towards the landing bay. They had a ton of data for her to sift through, so she might as well start now while she waited for Ward to wake up.

The sound of someone stumbling down the stairs two hours later drew Skye's attention. She was sitting in Fitzsimmon's former lab, scanning the info while wearing one ear-bud and nodding along to classic rock. Her eyes flicked up from the screen at the noise, watching as Ward came stumbling down the stairs. The whole gaggle of dogs and puppies came bounding down after him, flowing around his feet and nearly knocking him down a few times. It was comedic enough to draw a snicker from Skye.

Stretching out her arms, she closed her computer and wondered out into the cargo hold with a grin. "Finally woke up, huh Sleeping Beauty?"

"Her name was Aurora," corrected Ward with a yawn, heading for Skye as soon as he saw her. His arms were around her waist as soon as she was within arms reach. For a long moment, he pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss that clearly conveyed relief.

He'd told her after he broke the first time that he hated it when she was gone. That she was the light he kept moving towards, the one he kept in mind every time things got bad. And being able to see her, to reach out and touch her, made some of the darker thoughts in his head just a little more bearable because just her presence made him feel better.

Tracing her fingers up and down his spine, she relaxed into his hold and just enjoyed the fact that he was safe in her arms again for the moment. A moment that was ruined a moment later when something that wasn't Ward's hand suddenly pressed itself against her butt. She nearly jumped into his arms in surprise, which caused Ward to break into laughter. When she glanced back, she saw why. One of the dogs was standing behind her, wagging it's tail and looking up curiously in her direction.

"Damn Grant, you've already got a following," murmured Skye, reaching back with one hand to carefully pet the dog who had so rudely interrupted them. The dog happily dropped to sit beside her, leaning it's head against her leg.

"I'm just good with dogs," chuckled Ward, a slight blush coloring his cheeks as yipping came from their feet. A glance down confirmed that Ward's new pack had surrounded them. All six of the dogs were looking up at them curiously, mostly sniffing around Skye's feet. "They like you."

"That's because I'm irresistible," joked Skye as she leaned against Ward. "They'll like it here I think."

For a moment, Ward was quiet as he stared down at the dogs. Then he let out a heavy sigh. "We have to see if Coulson will let us keep them all first."

"He already agreed to," dismissed Skye easily. "I asked him earlier while you were taking a dog nap."

"Pretty sure it's a cat nap," muttered Ward as he stared at Skye in aw. "You really asked him already? And he actually said yes?"

"Well, the picture of you looking so completely at peace while surrounded by balls of fur is pretty convincing," teased Skye. Ward groaned and dropped his head to Skye's shoulder like he was in pain, but she knew he was grateful all the same. "And you were sleeping in the middle of a pile of dogs. It's a dog nap."

Shaking his head, Ward chuckled a bit and tightened his grip on her slightly. "You're amazing Skye."

"You're welcome Ward," whispered back Skye softly, squeezing him once before stepping back and away. "Now come on. We have to go pick some stuff up if we're going to keep these guys. Triplett and Jemma offered to keep them in the labs until we get back and AC gave us money plus a list of supplies we'll need. Also, the dogs are required to sleep with us because May says they can't sleep with her and AC."

Ward visibly winced at that, shaking his head. "I don't need to know May and Coulson are sleeping together."

"That's what AC says about us," chuckled Skye. "Must be a guy thing. Now, let's go. We need to get to town before the store closes."

"Skye, it's a big-box store," argued Ward, even as Skye started dragging them towards the labs. As if on cue, the dogs began to follow, yipping and sniffing the ground as they followed the two agents. "Those places never close."

"No," agreed Skye, "but I don't want to spend all night there either. We've been apart for a week and I had other plans for tonight." Watching one of the dogs bolt ahead, she opened her mouth to call the pup back only to stop half way. "They need names."

Ward seemed to realize this as well, his brow furrowing beside her. "Yeah, they do. What should we name them?"

"We should let everyone name one," replied Skye, eyes lighting up. "Well, everyone who wants to name one. Something tells me May won't want to come up with a name. Or she'll just name one with AC."

"Or I can just not name one," offered Ward, that edge of unease creeping back into his voice. It had become so common since he'd come back, Skye barely noticed it. Whenever he was faced with a decision, one that made him uneasy (which was basically any decisions that weren't tactical impacted only him at this point), there was something almost akin to a shy wobble that slipped into his voice. It was drastically better now than it had been before, but it was still there. And every time it showed up, the team had agreed secretly to force Ward to make a decision. In this case, it meant naming a dog apparently.

"Nope, at least one of these dogs is yours," stated Skye simply. "You're naming it."

Really, all of the dogs would probably end up being Ward's- she'd argued they keep them because they helped Ward after all. But she wasn't going to put the pressure of naming all six animals on Ward's shoulders. He could handle a lot more non-tactical decision-making situations now than before and there were a lot fewer incidents where he felt like his decisions might not be his own (thank you Garrett, you SOB- glad you're just a pile of ashes at this point, dick), but he could still only do so much. And naming six dogs might be outside his comfort zone. Plus, everyone else was probably going to want to name one except May. She was the only one who looked unhappy about the prospect of keeping the animals.

Ward's eyes fell to the largest of the dogs, the one who kept closest to him and kept switching back and forth between walking next to Skye and walking next to Ward. "I'm not sure I know any good dog names, Skye. My only dog's name was 'Buddy'."

"And that wasn't your choice," reminded Skye gently, her hand squeezing his gently. "Whichever dog you name, probably the one who seems so attached to you, that's _your_ dog. You get to name him. He's like your baby. And I know you'll choose a good name for him because it'll be _your_ choice. The name will have meaning to _you_ and that's what's important."

"Right," muttered Ward with a sigh, the furrow returning to his brow. "So, you said Coulson gave you a list, right? What do we need?"

Smiling a bit, Skye fished the list from her pocket as she leaned against Ward so he could see it as well. And together, they began to discuss everything on the list.


End file.
